My Story ❤ — From Argentina to Match Day in NYC

MY JOURNEY TO MATCH 2020 ❤ This chapter takes you back to my exams, applications and Match Day in New York. A lot has changed since then, but I hope the story helps you keep going.

𝐌𝐘 𝐔𝐒𝐌𝐋𝐄 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐈𝐍 𝐍𝐘𝐂 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎

STEP BY STEP from medical school to Match Day

•Started medical school in Argentina in 2009 (6 years program)

While in medical 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩, so one of my first jobs was teaching English, and then Biology and Chemistry to High School students, after that Microbiology and Biochemistry in a Private Institute to medical students. I then applied for a scholarship in my school during my last two years, and they granted it to me 😃

I finished medical school December 2015, and I knew that I needed a lot of money to start my USMLE JOURNEY.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐒𝐌𝐋𝐄? •As soon as I finished school and got my medical license, I started working full time as a General Practitioner in Argentina (You can work as a G.P. without a residency in my country). I would work 48, and sometimes 72 hrs continuous shift in the hospital.

In the ambulance service where I worked, a doctor went out with the team. I sometimes worked 16–18-hour ambulance shifts after long hospital shifts. I remember the holidays of 2016 as an especially exhausting period. This describes my experience—not every service in Argentina.

That's me on the photo in Argentina, after working a 48 hrs shift in the Hospital, and then doing my ambulance shift. Saving money to pursue my dream, with a very uncertain future, not idea that a couple of years later I would be matched in OB/GYN in New York City!

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐔𝐒𝐌𝐋𝐄 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? •I started planning my Step 1 on April 2017, and started studying full-time on September 2017. In Argentina we study medicine in spanish, so I wasn’t familiar with many enligh words, also last time I took basic sciences was like 6-7 years ago so I was basically 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐨. •I then started volunteering at a Hospital on December 2017, and then working on research on June 2018, where I also got USCE (you can see my previous posts on my page where I explained this in detail)

When did I take my exams?

1. I took my Step 1 on October 2018

2. Step 2 CS on May 2019

3. CK August 30, 2019 so I could apply this year.

I applied on September 21, 2019, while waiting for my Step 2 CK result and final letter.

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 and 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬? •I interviewed for OB/GYN from October ‘19 to January 2020. •I had to fly for my interviews to: 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒚, 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌, 𝑴𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏, 𝑶𝒉𝒊𝒐, 𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒂, 𝑲𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒂𝒔.

𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: Something that I always wanted to do is to 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 before starting my residency. •On October 2019, right before interview season, I flew to Japan to see the Rugby World Cup. Not very fun fact: I almost don’t make it to my first interview because I got stuck in Tokyo extra days due to the super typhoon! 🌪 •On January 2020 I flew to Europe for my first Eurotrip (Visited 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏, 𝑷𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒔, 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝑻𝒖𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒚, and 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒚)

• If you are interested you can see my travels during my interviews, Japan and Europe on my Instagram: @doctor.sebas

•On March 2020, matched in OB/GYN @ Lincoln Hospital NYC 🤩🇺🇸🇺🇸

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 & 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 I faced multiple challenges while in medical school, and during my USMLE preparation. • I didn’t have a house/ place to study, had to find my own. • Not economical support from anyone. •I had to work hard before start studying, saving money because once I start studying, I didn’t know when I was going to be able to get money again, and I had to pay for my exams, housing, applications, flights and hotels during interview season.

• Also, when I started my full-time preparation period for my STEPS, my mother faced a health issue, and she had over $30,000 dollars debt to the bank and about to be homeless, so 𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟 to help her resolve all those issues, and then returned to studying for Step 1. Luckily, she is perfectly fine now, and things are back on track 🙂

•At some point I even had to go to a small town in 𝐌𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐜𝐨 🇲🇽 (Malinalco) to study for my exam during a couple of months because I didn’t know where I could study.

•Also, Argentina medical school is in Spanish so I had to learn thousands of new English terminology, and also I was out of school for more than 2 years when I started my preparation

We only need a bed, some food, a computer with WiFi, and a desktop to study for Step 1 and CK, so you might be in the middle of nowhere but 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀!!

I did have a lot of emotional support from my mother and grandmother which I love so much 😍❤️

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐎 𝐈𝐓: •I know you are facing a lot of tough times, same as I did all along my preparation. •I want you to know something, it may seem that the entire world is against you right now, that there is a big concrete wall that keeps getting higher and higher and impossible to climb.

Getting through a difficult chapter can build confidence and perspective. You deserve support while you work through it.

𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑: All that resilience and experience that you gained, will make you be the one that will solve the problems when everyone freaks out, the one that will stay and make it happen when everyone around you is in complete chaos that don’t know what to do.

Resilience is not about judging people who need to pause. It is about finding a way forward—with support, care, and space to recover.

∙𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟: Have that idea to stand to people that say that your idea is wrong. ∙𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞: Prepare yourself for reality of today and unknown possibilities of tomorrow. 🙌 ∙𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠: Have the strength to disappoint you now, in order to delight you later ∙𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟑 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲: There are three states of being: Not knowing, action and completion. Once you have a plan and know how to do it, start it and take action, keep going hard, that the next step is completion, and celebration! ∙𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬: Also, as I always mention, help people along your preparation, along your life. When you invest time or recourses into someone’s success or happiness, and your payment is a share of that outcome, you become partners. 🙂 ∙𝐃𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞: Many times they want to tell us exactly what to do, and so many times that’s exactly the wrong approach My idea about creating www.doctorsebas.com is to put everything that you need for USMLE together in just one place, so you don't waste precious time going crazy trying to find something, and instead use that time to study, work or do more productive things :)

Good luck friends, I know that you can make it too!! Love you all ❤

Sebastian Arruarana, MD Fb page: Doctor Sebas 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺: @doctor.sebas

WHAT I WOULD TELL MY YOUNGER SELF ❤ Protect your sleep, ask for help early, and remember that changing your route does not erase your progress. I am proud of where I started and grateful for the people who helped me.